The 2012 Samsung Series 9 13.3" (NP900X3B)

I'm on 10.7.16.1. It's ok, does the job except the touchpad didn't work a few times after resuming from sleep but that problem seems to have gone away again.

I might try out the new one John mentioned.

 

I've been running the new touchpad driver for nearly a week on my X4C and, so far, it's worked every time on resume. I'm sure that the new driver will also work on the X3B. I also noticed that the driver is now offered by SW Update (the replacement for Easy Software Manager) for my X4C.

John

 

Thanks John. I just installed it now so hopefully I won't have that problem again.
Still stuck with another problem of BSOD when it's goes asleep for a long time, I'll have to tackle that another time...

 

What is the best way for removing the Intel and Windows logos which are spray painted on the bottom of the laptop?

 

Why is that a problem?

 

I'm having very werd/annoying problem with my touchpad.. First I noticed that my cursor sometimes bounces up and down randomly when AC adapter is plugged in. Even when just holding my finger still on the pad, cursor bounces ja shakes erraticly (when I'm not touching the pad, cursor doesnt move). I only noticed first symptoms after around 3 months of use. I've been trying different drivers and settings but nothing seems to help. But when AC is not plugged in and running on battery touchpad works normally. But today the same bouncing happened when I had my computer plugged into a TV with a HDMI cable and computer was running on battery. So there's something wrong with the connectors on the left side... I've read about un-earthed power-cables etc. But my cable has three prongs and is earthed. I'm currently downloading the drivers John recommended some posts earlier. See how we go...

 

You might also be getting voltage coming through the ground of HDMI cable. I would use one of those mains testing screwdrivers with a neon lamp to check whether the earth is actually earthed or has voltage. It's not unknown for the earth to not be properly grounded in which case any leakage to earth from other connected equipment can result in a noticeable voltage on the earth circuit (one reason why I use two pin power cables when travelling).

John

PS: Is your Zepto 6024W still running? I sold mine about 3 years ago.

 

Hahaha. Didnt even notice I still had my old signature.. havent posted on this board "in a while". My Zepto's still running...although cd drive doesnt work and one display-hinge is broken but other than that it still works perfectly. I used it until July this year.. so for about 4½ years.

Anyway.. back to the topic. Yes, the erratic movement clearly has something to do with the voltage running through the computer. ut I'm not sure if I understand you post correctly.. What do you mean with checking if earth has a voltage? And how do I do that? Also can you explain why you use two pin cables? Thanks, John!

edit: dont know if it's a separate problem but sometimes when i open the lid theres a whole heap of random programs and windows open, so the cursor must live its own life even when the lid is closed.

 

1. The mains tester is something like this (except one is enough). You touch the tip on the exposed metal, put your finger on the back end. If the orange light glows inside then there's 100V or more at the tip. [It's not dangerous -the current is very small, like a floating earth may not be dangerous if is leakage from other equipment but it is still inconvenient.]

2. And I use one of these to connect a 2 core mains lead to a PSU with a 3 pin connector. That isolates me from any unknowns with the earthing system (a potential hazard when travelling) and also means that I carry less bulky mains cables. I'm less worried about the voltage leakage from my own PSU than I am about problems with other equipment.

3. Is your computer actually sleeping / hibernating when you close it? Look in Event Viewer > System Log.

John

 

1. Where do I poke that thing? Somewhere inside the computer?

3. It's not meant to be sleeping, it's up and running but the lid is just down. I used a desktop recorder and left the lid down for about 30min and saw how the cursor moves and clicks randomly and opens programs. I disconnected from all networks so it's definitely not somebody using my computer remotely. I reckon that the screen is pushing against the touchpad somehow and causing this.

 

I would first test the earth at the mains socket. You can also test the outer part of the plug on the HDMI cable (when connected to the display).

John

 

I've been on Win8 for awhile. It's alright. None of the samsung specific functions work (software update, etc) but I've had no problem using the volume/brightness control default from Win8. With that said, the controls are really wonky. Sometimes after it boots it takes 5+ minutes before I can change the brightness.

Definitely not worth the upgrade, IMO.

 

I'm not sure why you don't have Software Update working - I've been on Windows 8 since late September. Initially there was no Software Update, but shortly after the retail version became available, so did Samsung's Software Update for Windows 8.

I have Windows 8 running on 3 laptops and think it's the BEST OS for a laptop. It boots and shuts down extremely fast - making IRST unecessary, IMHO. It's especially good with the Start8 utility.

bert

 

MY Samsung series 9 NP900X3L's touchpad freezes upevery 2 secs. What can i do ?
Thanks.

It should be NP900X3C not L. Sorry about that.

 

Make sure that you have the latest BIOS and touchpad driver (use this link if your Samsung software updater isn't offering it). That newest driver seems to have fixed various issues. If that doesn't work then another tweak is to raise the priority of ETDCtrl.exe and ETDCtrlHelper.exe in Task Manager.

John

 

P09AAH version of BIOS has been released. Still no changelog.

 

I installed it yesterday. No obvious changes - I suspect some tweaks for better Windows 8 / UEFI compatibility. Please read this thread before doing any BIOS updates.

I also updated my Easy Settings which was getting old. The previous BIOS update had killed the resume on lid open facility and I needed the switch in the newer Easy Settings to get it working again.

John

 

Strangely enough, I have been having the same problem!
I'm not using any HDMI cables & I'm using the same 2-3 pin converter that John mentions & I connect to 110v & 240 & both give me the problem randomly!
I reckon that I can feel some form of charge on the surface next to the trackpad (bizarrely only by using my knuckle!)- must get a voltage detector one day & see if it registers!
The cursor though jumps around all over the screen if a steady finger is put on the trackpad & it makes selecting etc almost impossible!
Pull the AC adapter & all goes back to normal!

Weird!

 

And in fact, looking more deeply into it - it seems as if the problem is at it's worst when you just use 1 finger to touch the trackpad & have nothing else touching the laptop.
The jumping around gets less with the more you touch the laptop - so I guess it's an earth / static problem?
If I have both palms touching the side of the laptop & then use the trackpad, it's fine but as I lift off my palms, a stationary finger on the trackpad will then make the cursor jump around the screen!

How weird!

 

Either you are good at generating static (room humidity, clothes, chair and carpet combinations, etc., can all be factors) or your mains neutral is also floating at well above ground.

My unscientific test for floating voltage is to light brush my fingers over the exposed metal. Your knuckle test is probably similar.

John

 

just tried this and my laptop behaves exactly the same way. i talked to samsung support (im in australia) and they told me to send it back for repairs but i really wouldnt like to do that...everybody knows how "quick" they are with these things.

 

One point for X3B owners is to make sure you are using the newest touchpad driver. It may not be offered by Samsung but it works fine.

John

 

^ Yup, latest drivers.
It's a hardware problem I guess though...

 

Aah, just to add another dimension to this issue - the jumping only occurs with a 3rd party AC adapter - with the Samsung one, it is as you would expect.
I guess the 3rd party one isn't grounded well?

 

There are different qualities of 3rd party PSUs. I use one without any noticeable problems. You seem to have struck unlucky. However, if everything is OK with the Samsung PSU then you can't blame Samsung for the problem.

John

 

Exactly John - it's nothing wrong with my laptop but an issue with the PSU....
Not blaming Samsung at all...!

 

"Caps Lock", "F12", "F6" and "Fn Lock" buttons have an indicator light on them. When I click "Fn + F6" it does mute my sound but the indicator light does not turn on. Indicator light works correctly on the remaining buttons. Is anybody else seeing this issue?

 

I think the laptop has a cleaner look without the Windows and Intel logos. I always remove the Windows and Intel stickers from the laptops and I would like to be able to remove the painted logos from the bottom of the laptop as well.

 

The F6 light is working on my X3B (I hadn't noticed it previously but I don't usually mute the sound). Perhaps that piece of your keyboard is defective.

John

 

I'm not able to update my NP900X3B to the latest BIOS P09AAH. I downloaded the full BIOS update file and try to update (run as admin) but it always fails - there is some kind of error in the command prompt window that goes away too fast. After the reboot, it just prompts me again to update the bios. Can anyone help?

I found the following errors in the system event log...

The iocbios2 service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the path specified.

The TDKLIB service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

 

Hi

One of the keys (obviously on the keyboard!) has stopped working properly / fully, specifcally the 's'.

Basically it makes a distinctive noise when you strike it (unlike the other keys) and unless there is a very clean contact, it doesn't work (also unlike other keys).

Just wondering whether any other users had experienced something similar, and if so, what potential solutions there are. I appreciate it's not a huge issue presently but I'm concerned that it's going to stop working completely / develop into something bigger.

The laptop is about six months old but I did a fresh install of Windows to remove all the bundled Samsung software so I'm assuming I've invalidated my warranty.

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts / advice...

 

1. You can try to clean under the key using a paint brush with long bristles in case some debris is interfering with the key action.
2. A user reinstallation of Windows is no reason for declining to provide warranty service because of a hardware problem. The need to press the key carefully for it to register suggests that the problem is hardware, not software.

John

 

Hi John
Thanks for the reply / advice, appreciated.

 

Hi all,
Due to excessive battery wear (about 40%), I've just been sent a replacement battery, it's a 7.4V AA-PBXN4AR to replace the old 11.1V AA-PBXN6AR. I've swapped in the new battery and the samsung is running it down ok, but the battery doesn't charge. The charge indicator flashes green/orange.

Just to check, if I swap in the old 11.1V battery, then it charges up just fine. Have I missed a vital step somewhere?

 

I can't think of a missing step. Someone else got a similar replacement battery a few months ago and that worked without problems.

Does it still flash green/orange if you leave it on charge overnight with the computer off?

You can also try the battery disconnect / reconnect via the hole on the bottom with the mains power disconnected in case that resets something.

John

 

Hi John,

I've tried the button on the battery with no change in behaviour, and separately run down the new battery with the calibration routine. I'll try leaving it overnight as you suggest, but it already flashes green/orange when the laptop is off. Incidently, this is the second replacement from Samsung, the first did exactly the same thing....

Jonathan

 

3rd battery already. My suspicion starts to fall on the battery management circuit in the computer.

John

 

Holy cow! Are the batteries in these things just garbage? HWinfo says now:

Designed Capacity: 400071
Full Charged Capacity: 26640
Wear Level: 33.5%

That seems... excessive. A couple months ago, I was at 6%. Do you think the latest BIOS just gets it wrong?

 

Is that the 11.1V AA-PBXN6AR mentioned above. It's interesting that Samsung are providing a different model as replacement.

Anyway, I suggest you first run the battery calibration in the BIOS and, if that doesn't recover a lot of capacity, then ask for a replacement.

John

 

I had mine since launch (March) and both HWinfo and BatteryCare indicate my wear level is only 3.0-3.05% with full charged capacity of 38850 mWh. If that is true, the battery is excellent for me. I use it about 5 days a week, 4-8 hrs a day, battery life extender keeping it at 80% charged, and plugged in about 80% of the time too. Is it even possible to have negigble battery lost for this many months? I haven't noticed any decrease in battery life real-time.

 

Yeah, I don't know what the model number is, but it's an 11.1. What's really funny is that the wear level is 39.1% now after calibration.

Man, I don't know what I did, but my wear level was 3% on August 9th based on a post I made back then. Clearly I offended my laptop somehow in the interim.

 

Which voltage is your battery? The 11.1V 4-cell seems to be less reliable.

My X3B's 11.1V battery has been sitting at 3% wear since new but I'm going to run the battery calibration to see if the wear changes. I suggest you do the same. If the battery hasn't been used near the capacity limits then it won't be able to update itself.

John

 

I just did a battery calibration in the BIOS and my battery wear is still at a low 3.05% . In the settings, it says my current voltage is 12.518 V.

 

Hey Everyone,

Im helping someone try to fix an issue with their touchpad on a 900x3a. The touchpad is insanely sensitive. So I've updated the synaptic drivers to 16.2.21 hoping their would be sensitivity settings. However, the only option available in the Device Settings > Settings window is "Buttons" (on or off).

Do I need to rollback to an old version? Or is this a known issue that you cant change sensitivity on this laptop/touchpad combination?

Thanks a lot.
Brent

 

The X3A has its own thread. Post there and you will increase the likelihood of response from other X3A owners.

John

 

I've also done the battery calibration today. It started at 80% then drained the battery. I noticed a sudden drop from just below 50% to 8%. I then recharged the battery to 100% (disabled the Battery Life Extender) and rechecked the wear: Still at the 3% it has been since new. I then drained the battery again by playing a video while periodically noting down the time, the % charge and Windows' estimate of the time remaining from which I produced this graph:



After the computer ran out of power during the playback test (Windows 7 insists on shutting down with at least 3% remaining) I briefly reconnected the power, went into the BIOS, disconnected the power and reran the battery calibration. It ran for another 13 minutes to drain the battery. After which I started up the computer again, checked the calibration and it is now at 11.4%. I will do another drain / recharge cycle and see if it changes again.

BTW, my battery voltage is now 12.272V at 100% charge. The 11.1V is the nominal voltage as indicated on the battery label.

John

 

Ugh. I hate Samsung's support site. How have people been requesting replacement batteries without sending the laptop to Texas? I can replace it myself, assuming I can get them to send one out.

Then again, if it's the charging or battery detection circuits, I'm SOL without sending it in. I swear, I've never had so many problems with a laptop. I returned the first unit due to a faulty touchpad, and the one I got in return has a bad battery.

 

I've put my X3B through another battery discharge cycle. The wear is now 16.9% and the battery drain graph is still not a straight line with a steep drop just before empty.



I will put it through another cycle. I've another three months before the warranty runs out.

John

 

Another full charge / discharge cycle: Battery wear now at 19.7%.

John

 

Seriously? That's a bad sign.